ENGLAND

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 345, 15 January 1918, Page 4

ENGLAND

" England with all thy faults I love thee still." So sang Will Cowper, and so still shall we Acclaim our country, bulwark of the free. God bring her safely through wars' deadly throes And the worse danger of internal foes; For worse by far than all the German guns Is England's danger from disloyal sons. The men who held the line at Marne and Somme Who broke the German fleet and chased it home, May well be trusted to protect our coast, And justify again our ancient boast, That Britain " circled by the silver sea," From foot of foreign foe shall aye be free. But who shall save us from the blatant band, Who seek to spread sedition in the land? * A Socialistic and and anarchic crew, Bitter and dangerous though ia numbers few, Who, while the Empire reels in deadily strife Aim treacherous weapon at her very life. By deftly playing on false hopes and fears, They aim to set all classes by the ears. Labour and capital, natural allies, Are turned by them to deadliest enemies; They prate of wrongs that working men endure, And revolution is their only cure. If discord gather with its present trend In Russian pandemonium it may end. Let but their traitor hands remove the throne The " Dear old Island" soon will stand alone. What is the nature of the endless chain, Which holds our Empire with elastic strain ? Think you self interest with its greedy clasp Could hold these high born nations in its grasp, Shall Australasia, Canada, be,told, They may, like wool or grain be sold ? Have India, Africa no better tie , Than gold, to knit them to us ? 'Tie a lie! Just such a lie, our enemies delight, To spread like poisonous gas to left and light. There is a loadstone stronger far than gain, That draws each loyaF heart across the main; It is that choicest spot of all the earth, That little land which gave our fathers birth,. From whence the world's best institutions come And where true liberty has made her home. We pay no servile homage to the Crown, To claims of Right Divine we bow not down, But with a firm accord we freely own " The strength of Empire centres in the throne." \ Here is one point for which none dare compete, Here law and justice have their sacred seat. The monarch is the keystone of the arch, 'Nealth which the Empire's millions proudly march; And when the grand old Ensign is unfurled A breath of freedom floats across the world. From this remotest corner of his realm, We hail the true mail standing by the helm, And with full throated voices we will sing " Long live our Empire " and " God Save the King." E. WEST, Otahuhu.